An Unlikely Detention
by DiSolace
Summary: Seven teenagers are all given detention for very different reasons. What happens next brings them closer until they become a kind of unlikely group of friends. Mortal AU, set in a high school, with all the canon couples and some small tweaks to their fundamental backstory. Rated T for mild swearing and mentions of violence.
1. Chapter 1 - Percy

**Sooooo… hi.**

 **It's me.**

 **I haven't used this fanfiction account in over 2 years, but recently I fell down a deep hole when I read a solangelo fanfiction. And another. And another. And then I was reading percabeth and some with the whole crew. I'm obsessed. So this is happening! If you are interested, a few of the amazing fanfictions that stopped me from doing any schoolwork were: "You Know Me?" [TheGoldenSnitch1228]; "Wrong Number" [EffervescentGrace]; "I Got a Boy [flying crowbar]; and "Sixth Period Study Hall" [BookEnthusiast2.0]. They are amazing stories, read them all!**

 **I have left the single chapter of an old fanfiction from when I was… like… 12 up. Read and cringe at how freaking awful it is.**

 **Also, a heads up, I'm English. So if any words are different to the "standard" American English, sorry!**

 **Rated T for swearing.**

 **Also, I don't know if this is necessary but it may help somebody. Trigger Warning: There are mentions of abuse at the end. Sorry. I won't go in to detail until later chapters.**

 _ **Seven teenagers are all given detention for very different reasons. What happens next brings them closer until they become a kind of unlikely group of friends.**_

PERCY

Percy was having a bad day. It wasn't the first time bad things had happened to him, but there weren't usually so _many_. First, it was the gum that he managed to get stuck in his hair. Where did it come from? Percy sure didn't know, and he didn't really want to find out. Then, it was dropping his notebook on his foot, AND getting a paper cut as it slipped quickly out of his fingers. Also, all of his loose papers fell out of the notebook, and he had to kneel on the floor like an idiot picking them all up.

Oh, and there was the time when he saw _Leo Valdez_ , of all people, kissing his ex-girlfriend. And Percy punching him. And the head teacher giving them both detention that day.

That sucked too.

Now, don't get the wrong idea. Percy wasn't a bad person. He also wasn't a jealous person. But there was something about seeing the girl who he had loved, and I mean _loved_ , kissing someone else, that made Percy get really angry. Even if it was Percy who dumped Calypso, not the other way round. Maybe it was really stupid. Hell, he KNEW it was really stupid. Yeah… he wasn't looking forward to this detention.

Percy struggled through his last lesson, the words swimming even more on the page before him than usual, as he sulked unapologetically. He just wanted to go home, have a blue cookie (family tradition, don't ask) and train all night. Percy was a swimmer, and as he shuffled about school that day, all he wanted was to swim, and let the water wash his problems away. But he couldn't. He would have to be late to training, because of a stupid detention. It was like the universe had shit on him.

So when he trudged into the detention classroom, he was expecting some sympathy. He definitely didn't expect to be giving any.

"Jackson, sit. You're the last one here." The teacher barked at him.

He slumped into a desk at the front, and turned around to look at everyone else in the room. The first surprise was his best friend, Jason Grace, who surely would have mentioned his detention. The next was Piper, sitting directly behind him. Although Piper McLean had a pretty hot badass side, she seemed way too nice to be in detention. At the back were Frank and Hazel, two of the kindest people he knew, the only people in here that he properly trusted. Except for one...

The last person in the room was the most surprising. Hunched over, her eyes wet with tears and her face red, was Annabeth. Freaking. Chase.

As in, his crush throughout the whole of his childhood.

As in, the girl who tutored him for two years when she was only 13.

As in, the girl who was practically tortured by her demon of a boyfriend when she was 16.

As in, the girl who went through that abuse alone.

As in, the girl who never cried.

Percy had an immediate reaction. He wanted to scream, or explode, or cry. This girl was like a sister to him! Surely he knew why she was crying? But of course, Percy didn't know why. Because he hadn't spoken to her in months.

It all happened when Percy joined the football team at their school. He didn't even like football that much, but he was fit and fast and listened to the coach enough to become good; at Maple Park Academy becoming good at football meant that you became popular, and hung out with the team, and even got a seat on their famous table in the lunch hall. While Percy stepped out of the shadows, Annabeth shrank into them, destroying their flimsy friendship based on a childhood crush.

Eventually Percy dropped out of the team to focus on swimming, but by this point he had a permanent spot on the team table. Jason on his right. As always. He never even looked at Annabeth during lunch, sitting on a quiet table with her head in a book, or occasionally sitting with this gloomy boy and some dude in his maths class called Will.

"Right Cupcakes! You sit, and you sit quiet, for an hour. You are allowed to do homework or-"

The teacher stopped abruptly as the lights went out and the room went silent.

 **I hope that didn't suck. I'm not sure about the ending. Please review and follow to find out more…**


	2. Chapter 2 - Jason

**I am SO grateful for all of the favourites, follows and reviews. You are amazing. I realise that I kind of forgot about Leo in the second half of the last chapter, but he IS in detention with them all.**

 **I also realise that I have used a weird mix of American and English terms or slang in this chapter: the word snogging (English) is nowhere near as accurate/nice as making out (American usually) in my opinion!**

JASON

"What?" Somebody said. Sounded like Percy, but I couldn't be sure because _the freaking lights were off._ Hedge, the teacher (I have him for English), walked slowly over to the light switch, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor in the silence, and flicked it. Flicked it again. Nothing happened.

"The power is out." A voice from the back said. Probably Frank.

"No shit, Sherlock." Someone else whispered. The teacher probably whipped his head around, looking for the source, but of course _it was dark_.

"Alright cupcakes, hang tight. I'm going to go and see what is going on here." Hedge opened the door and left the room. I waited, holding my breath; the lock clicked. Damn. We're stuck in here for a while.

At this point, you are probably wondering about windows. Surely we could open one for some light? However, the detention room in our school has no windows. It is literally a prison cell, and the only light was coming from the tiny window in to the hallway.

For at least five minutes, we were silent. Nobody moved a muscle, or said a word. The only sound was sniffling, that girl Annabeth still crying probably. I think that the others were probably thinking along the same lines as me. In a few minutes, Hedge would waltz back in, flick the lights on and laugh at our shocked expressions. It was just a power cut! They happened all the time in some places.

The thing is, Maple Park was not one of those places.

I could tell that they were all trying to drag this out, like if we did nothing then everything would go back to normal, we would have the last half an hour of detention and go and frolic with the daisies in a field or some shit. Eventually, after a century of waiting, I heard a chair scrape across the floor, and fabric rustle as someone put their arm around someone else.

Suddenly, someone directly behind me stood up. Piper? She walked quickly to the front, her heels going click-clack on the floor. A draw opened. Some rustling. And then, suddenly, light.

All heads turned towards the dazzling torch beam, and I could make out the people around me. Hazel and Frank were cuddled up together at the back. Annabeth had her head on the desk; it was kind of heart breaking, actually.

"He took my phone cause I was texting. Phones have torches. You all have phones, idiots." Everyone proceeded to take out their phones and prop them up in some way so that their torch beams illuminated the desks in the centre.

Then another voice, Leo Valdez, spoke, "It's kind of cold, isn't it. Think the heating went out as well?" (It was kind of cold. I guess). "Anyone have a jacket?"

There was a quiet chorus of "No" and "Sorry" and "It isn't that cold…" that confirmed my suspicions: nobody here liked Leo. That, or nobody here knew Leo properly. While this was happening, I scooted over to Percy's desk and whispered in his ear.

"Why is Annabeth Chase crying? You used to be friends, right?" Percy shrugged nonchalantly, but his face was grumpy and confused.

The room was silent for a moment. Nobody knew what to do or say. Eventually, Piper came to our saviour: she sat down on one of the desks in the very centre and said, calmly, "So what are you all in for?"

Silence. Nothing. Until someone on a table on the left walked slowly towards us and sat on a desk in the little cluster we were forming around where Annabeth and Percy had been sitting.

"I was punched." Leo. "I guess it was kind of my fault. I mean, Perce here has no idea that his ex-girlfriend had a new… uh, guy. And then she kissed me in the lunch hall and I was punched by my main man over here." He nudges Percy with his foot.

"Sorry about that, man. Nothing personal. It was just a surprise that it was… um." Percy stops, looking embarrassed.

"A surprise that it was me. You were expecting at least a Jason for _your_ girlfriend. I get it." Leo said quietly, but there was no bitterness in his voice. A little annoyance, maybe, but mostly sadness. A little elf-looking boy that liked construction and hated himself.

"Do any of you know that I have a sister?" Piper whispered. "Her name is Lacy and she is 7 years old. My Dad makes movies, everyone knows that, so he is out of town a lot; last night I had to look after Lacy, go shopping for groceries, cook, clean, and by the time I got to bed it was pretty late. I fell asleep in History." She said the whole story with a light tone, so I know she meant it as a joke, but nobody laughed because _damn_ , there is more to Piper than meets the eye.

"I was texting in class. My sister. Mum isn't well." I said, feeling that it was my turn.

"These are all so depressing, guys." Piper laughed. "Anyone got something juicy?"

Little Hazel, the happiest girl I have ever seen (smiling in detention?!), raised her hand. "Frank and I were making out in the girls bathroom." We all laughed at Frank's blush, and the way he nudged Hazel in playful annoyance.

I glanced at Annabeth, and saw that throughout all this she had sat up. All eyes turned slowly to her.

"What about you? And why have you been sobbing all detention?" Leo asked innocently.

"Leo!" Piper smacked him over the head like she was his mum. "You don't have to say, Annabeth."

"I cheated on a physics test."

"Holy shit." I whispered. Annabeth was just about the smartest girl I knew.

"My mum is kind of pushy. She really wants me to get into a really good college for architecture, and I want to get in too. It's just, physics is my lowest grade and last time we had a test I didn't do that well and mum got really angry and I just." She stopped to wipe her streaming eyes on her sleeve. "I was caught. Now I have no chance of getting in to a good school. I got a week of detention and it goes on my record. I messed up."

To my surprise, two hands go to Annabeth. One from Piper, even though I don't think they have ever spoken, and one from Percy. She grips them like lifelines.

"We're gonna be here a while. Truth or dare?"

 **That got kind of deep. We learnt a lot of info, but I think this is going to be a good story…**

 **If anyone could let me know in the reviews: what is the rule for cover pictures? If I find a picture on google images, can I use it? Thanks** **J**

 **Enjoy… -IndigoWater (the cheesiest username EVER)**


	3. Chapter 3 - Annabeth

**That's right: ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, An Unlikely Detention is back!**

 **I'm so so so so so so so so sorry that I haven't updated this in over a month. I was suddenly really busy and lost all of my motivation after losing an entire chapter because my laptop sucks. But when I saw that nearly 20 PEOPLE had followed this story, I was beyond astounded.**

 **While I was 'away', I wrote a new story called Happy Birthday Will, so please if you are at all in to Solangelo give it a read and review. I think it is quite good, if I may say so myself ;)**

 **This is from Annabeth's point of view but isn't particularly Annabeth-central. It is just some light-hearted joking and games so hold on a little longer for some more plot in the next chapter!**

 **Enjoy. You deserve it.**

Piper smirked and turned to Jason, an evil glint in her eye, "Jason, truth or dare?"

"Oh, uh… dare?"

"Lick someone in this room." Hazel giggled, fanning her face with a cute little blush. Jason smiled and immediately turned to Percy, the obvious choice as they are pretty much inseparable. But Piper wasn't done, "but it can't be a guy." Jason started, and made a sound between a whine and a groan.

Then he turned around and licked Piper's arm, to cheers and wolf-whistles from Leo. Piper squirmed, laughing. I'll be honest with you, the obvious chemistry was exhausting.

"Okay. Perce, truth or dare?" Jason said after flirting with his eyes for a while (seriously, are they dating? I'm pretty sure I've never seen them talk!)

"Truth." He said, to whines from Leo about being scared.

"In this room, who would you like to date least?"

"Hazel. I love you, you know that, Haze, but I've seen Frank punching people and man, I do not want to get on the wrong side of him." Frank blushed as Hazel blew comedy kisses to Percy across the room."

"Wait, you guys are friends?" Everyone turned to me. I wasn't sure why I asked, but it just slipped out.

"Yeah. They're younger than us, how do you know them?" Piper backed me up, her eyebrows scrunched together like she was trying to figure it out.

"I got moved down a year in English once, and these two were kind of my only friends. We've been through a lot together."

"Yeah." Hazel added, "And Frank and I don't have any best friends besides Percy, each other and a couple of kids in our year. So… yeah. We're friends."

"Right. Anyway, Hazel, t-or-d dude?" **(A/N I seem to have an obsession with making Percy really dorky and un-cool…)**

"Truth."

"I'm speaking as a friend here, but I never pegged you as the sort of girl that would kiss her boyfriend in the bathroom, so… tell the story?"

Hazel groaned as they both turned a shade pinker.

"Come on, little girl, tell us. Uncle Leo won't tell a soul…" Leo coaxed mockingly.

"Alright. So everyone has this picture of me being all _sweet and nice_ , right? Well, my brother always teases me-"

"You have a brother?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, half. Nico? Acts like an emo and doesn't talk to anyone except sometimes Annabeth?!

"I know him."

" _Anyway,_ he teases me about it. And one day I was feeling it and Frank had a free period but I had a lesson, so I skipped and dragged him into a stall, and just said 'can I kiss you?' and the rest is history."

"So just like that? No reason, just you were feeling it?"

"Yeah, Percy. I'm trying to prove that I'm not a baby with this speech!"

"Okay, point taken. Your go."

"Leo, truth or dare?"

"Dare, cause I'm not a wimp like all you people."

"Dance. With someone, I mean. Like ballroom?"

Leo turned to Jason and bent down, offering his arm comically. Jason gracefully accepted and soon they were dancing, Piper humming in the background and Percy filming it on his phone, practically choking.

Hazel was a genius. These boys were _freaking awful_ which made it _freaking hilarious_. I stifled a giggle, which soon turned into a laugh, and before I knew it I snorted uncontrollably and was full on cackling. Percy looked over at me, bewildered, and visibly brightened at the sight.

Yeah. I was laughing. Annabeth Chase, the gloomy nerd that flinched at everything and cried her eyes out when she got one detention, was laughing.

It felt pretty good.

 **Ugh, it is very short. I hope you liked it anyway...**

 **This isn't the best thing I have ever written, but I hope it satisfies your need for this fanfiction. I have a small (large) obsession with the friendship between Percy, Hazel and Frank so I had a bit of that in here?**

 **If I'm honest, I am not too proud of this so I may edit it later. I just REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to post something for y'all.**

 **P.S. I am English, so that is why the words could be different to the 'standard' American-English.**

 **P.P.S PLEASE REVIEW and leave constructive criticisms.**

 **Lots of love xx**


	4. Chapter 4 - Percy

**Updating after literally months? Sounds about right.**

 **After ironing out a few major plot issues (Percy going from not knowing who Hazel and Frank are to having 'been through a lot' with them? Really, me? Really?) and realising that the first chapter is in 3rd person and the others in 1st (which I can't be bothered to change, sue me), I'm going to add more to this flimsy beginning and make it a weak story.**

 **Maybe.**

 **LET'S GO!**

PERCY

I was almost disappointed when the teacher, Hedge, walked back into the room, because the conversation had finally regulated into an unwavering _happy_ , that I could tell wasn't just from me. When looking round I was met almost entirely with smiles and comfortable laughter, which was… nice.

However, when Hedge did walk in, we all immediately turned to him with questioning eyes and half-open mouths.

"Shut up!" He barked, before anyone could say a thing. "It's a big storm out there. Power's out, phones aren't working that well either. Your detention was over ten minutes ago, but we don't recommend you try to go home any time soon. Can't force you to stay, can't get hold of any of your parents… I'm at a standstill."

"Huh." Frank added, helpfully.

"Do we have to stay in here?" Piper asked, an evil glint in her eyes.

"You should probably be with a teacher, so if you manage to break any bones the school doesn't get sued… Oh, what the hell. I'm not technically in charge of you after school hours. Don't break yourselves or objects. Run wild!"

Hedge was cut off with a chorus of yelps and cheers, as we ran out of the doors and down the corridors.

"Don't leave without telling someone!" He shouted, trailing of lamely when he realised that nobody could hear him, or wanted to.

…

We ended up in the gym. Was this the best thing to ever happen? Probably.

Seven kids, most of whom I was either close friends with, or kind of wished I was, in a school sports hall with no teachers.

Even Leo was kind of growing on me, as I realised reluctantly that we had a pretty similar goofy sense of humour, and in another life would be good friends. He had a weird relationship with Jason and Piper, like a wart that they didn't want but had grown to love.

Maybe that's how Annabeth used to feel about me.

Anyway, seven kids, a gym, no supervision, a shit ton of energy.

Interesting.

Jason and I went for the equipment cupboard immediately, but were just-as-immediately met with a disappointing lock on its door. Thankfully (as well as slightly worryingly), Piper was pretty good at picking locks, and with a glance behind her, was unlocking the door with a hair pin. Genius.

We grabbed balls, a lot of em - basketballs, footballs, tennis balls, pingpong balls and the oddly named but very cool shuttlecocks - and began a messy but hilarious game of dodgeball. I must say, I was pretty damn epic, feeling like the Flash (who is cooler than Superman, sorry Jason, who thinks the opposite) as I dodged a tennis ball to the temples from a cackling Leo and a basketball to the ass from the very sneaky Piper McLean.

I was certain I was going to win, as I hit Hazel with a carefully timed football, when I felt the unmistakable _plonk_ of a ping pong ball on the back of my neck.

Whirling round, I was met by storm-grey eyes. Annabeth. I hadn't even realised she was playing.

"You never could beat me." She whispered, a tired smile just finding its way through her exhausted eyes.

My mum always taught me not to stare. I'm just about the biggest feminist I know, except for maybe Jason's sister Thalia, and I know that women aren't objects. Even though, from the youngest age, I've liked to stare at girls: the way the walk, they talk, their laugh, their eyes, all of it… I don't. I want to stare, but I don't.

At least that's what I thought.

But I wasn't looking at Annabeth, I was staring.

And God, was she beautiful. When had that happened?

 _Stop staring, Percy._

She was taller, but seemed much smaller than she used to when we were kids, because I guess I had grown even more. I knew how much time she spent running and in the gym, and while I was lean from swimming, she was strong, and I was pretty sure she could bench press more than me.

 _Stop staring, Percy._

Her hair was longer.

She had curves. That was new. Oh _God_.

 _Stop staring, Percy._

But her cheeks were grey, sallow.

Her eyes were dark.

She didn't have any freckles anymore.

 _Stop staring, Percy._

Beautiful, broken.

Strong.

 _Stop staring, Percy._

"So… last one to the ropes loses?" Leo said, breaking the awkwardly stale silence.

And we were off.

 **PERCABETH! Percabethpercabethpercabeth. Percabeth?**

 **Percabeth.**

 **I realise how unrealistic this situation is, but ho hum.**

 **If you haven't noticed, this is loosely inspired by the amazing book 'One Of Us Is Lying', which I recommend!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this, but I hope even more that I update within a month…**


	5. Chapter 5 - Leo

**Hello all! I wrote two chapters today, so another will be up soon!**

LEO

After we managed to lift Hazel onto Jason's shoulders, with Frank holding her ankles and Percy standing on a chair to support from the front, we could finally look out of the tall windows in the sports hall.

Hazel told us, eloquently, that it was "Pretty darn stormy. You'd be mad and end up very wet if you went out in that."

When I asked for a more accurate description, she tilted her head, bit her bottom lip and decided that if rain was a 1 and a hurricane was a 10, this was a 9.

Cute.

Eventually we all got pretty bored. Piper and Jason put out all of the mats used for high jump and gymnastics, which were squishy and comfortable. We lay in messy, slumped heaps and played stupid games.

"Would you rather eat a strand your own hair or someone else's eyelash?" I asked.

"Can I pick the someone?" Piper wondered.

Intrigued, I said yes.

"Then eyelash. Dunno if anyone else notices these things, but Hedge has the shortest eyelashes you've ever seen. Looks tasty, huh? Nice try Leo, but that's too easy."

…

"No! No, I don't care what you say, Percy, but have you seen the sexual tension between Nico di Angelo and Will Solace? They _are_ going to be the cutest couple in the school, ok?" Annabeth claimed matter-of-factly. "You'd have to be blind to miss it."

"We literally grew up with Grover, and you're saying that his future relationship with Juniper isn't as cute as an emo a year below us? That's rich." Percy snarled, "Besides, I thought Nico had a crush on you? He's not even gay!"

"No, you nitwit, he had a crush on _you_!" Hazel had her head in her hands at this point.

"Then why doesn't he still." Percy looked hurt.

"Ok!" Jason banged a pencil on his jeans jokingly. "I declare this debate over! All those in favour of Grover and Juniper being the cutest couple that isn't together yet say 'Ay!'"

Two out of the six participating in the debate (Jason being the moderator) said so. Annabeth whooped in triumph.

…

"And now we have Jason and Percy, performing to 'Chandelier' by Sia." Frank boomed in a mock 'announcer voice'.

Piper, lounging lazily with her shoes hanging from her braid, a result of some truth or dare, hit play on her phone. The boys walked onto the stage, dressed in spare swimming costumes over their jeans and t-shirts to imitate the leotards from the video. Hazel giggled and averted her eyes.

They began with their most intricate trick, in which Jason lifted Percy, lean and relatively flexible from swimming, onto his shoulders, where he spread is arms out wide and pretended to fly while Jason spun unsteadily.

Having made it out of this trick alive, they began the more… abstract parts of their dance. Imitating the iconic Maddie Ziegler from the music video, they performed shaky 'acrobatics' and jumped in messy circles.

The girls were close to tears with laughter.

Just as it was reaching the last chorus, I stood up, ready to surprise everyone with my secret cameo in their routine. Finishing their spins, Jase and Percy faced me, and nodded slightly. I broke into a run, then leapt, felt Jason's hand scrape my knee and Percy's grope my hip…

Before falling straight to the floor.

…

Eventually it got darker and darker outside, and we got sleepier and sleepier. The teacher from detention, Hedge, found us and told us that although they couldn't enforce it, the staff recommended that we stayed in the school overnight for our safety. He had some fire blankets, bottles of water and dry food, which we shared in silence. Frank and Hazel were first to go to bed, leaving our little group with a squishy mat and a blanket and heading to the other, darker, side of the hall.

I tried to settle down too, finding my school bag discarded in the corner of the hall and getting out a French textbook, trying and failing to revise the conditional tense. As usual, I couldn't concentrate, my eyes drifting whenever someone moved, my ears straining to hear a snippet of interesting information, my hand tapping a little message out in morse code.

 _I love you_. Just as my mum had taught me all those years ago.

 _I love you_.

As distracted as I was, I didn't notice Annabeth sit next to me until she was already there.

"Hey, Leo, I love you too, but you don't need to broadcast it." She smirked.

"You know morse code." I said, my ears flushing red.

"Guilty." She scooted so she was next to me, reading over my shoulder. "Conditional? That's tough. Don't take this the wrong way, but do you want any help?"

She looked nervous. I understood; to some she might seem a know it all, or full of herself, or like she thinks everyone else is stupid. I saw through it. She was clever and strong and wanted some friendly company that didn't act like she was going to break down. Percy kept looking yearningly at her, like he wanted to fix her. The others didn't look at all, walking on eggshells.

I just wanted to get a good grade in my French test.

"I'm dyslexic. And ADHD." I said quietly.

"It's ok. Me too."

And so we sat, me flicking her arm when she made it too complicated, her pulling my ears when I got distracted.

Annabeth acted like the sibling I never had.

 **My biggest problem with the HOO series is that amidst all the action, we don't get to see any relationships build between the seven. How many words are spoken between Jason and Frank, or Annabeth and Leo?**

 **Some of my favourite friendships/dynamics that I want to explore are Frank and Annabeth, Leo and Annabeth, Leo and Hazel and of course Percy/Frank/Hazel, my favourite friendship ever.**

 **I also love Piper and Nico friendships!**

 **Thank you for over 1,500 views on this story. That's crazy!**

 **PLEEAAASSEEE REVIEW SO I KNOW THIS IS WORTH UPDATING**

 **That's all for now. I'll go to sleep dreaming of a platonic fan fiction...**


	6. Chapter 6 - Annabeth

**A short one to keep you on your toes. I hope you like it, I think it's really sweet...**

 **TW - mentions of physical/verbal abuse**

ANNABETH

I woke up in cold sweat. I could still feel the spiders crawling up my legs and down my arms, bites making my whole body itch and convulse repulsively, their webs spilling out of my mouth and eyes so I couldn't even scream. I could still hear that voice, Luke's voice, as he told me that I was worthless. Could still feel his slap on my cheek, and was still stifling a cry…

I took two deep breaths. Inhale for two long seconds, exhale for two long seconds. I pictured a beach, with crashing waves. I clenched my fists and toes and then relaxed them. I did everything my therapists had taught me, and _still_ I was hyperventilating, shaking uncontrollably, silent tears streaming down my cheeks.

My thoughts strayed to the reason I was in detention in the first place. Two weeks of detention. I had cheated on the most important physics test of my high school career, and had in turn sabotaged any hope I had of reaching a top college for architecture. I wanted to scream.

Before I could control myself, a sob escaped me. Quiet, but strangled.

"Annabeth?" A voice whispered. I looked up to see Percy, across from me, leaning up on one arm, wiping his eyes with another.

He stared at me, and I met his eyes. His beautiful eyes.

They were questioning. _Are you ok?_

I shook my head, and at once he leapt over to me, blanket trailing behind. He put it over me, along with my other one, and slowly, leaving my opportunity to stop him at any time, put his arm around me.

"We'll make it." He whispered.

What a wonderful phrase. Not "it's okay", because it wasn't, not "you can do this" because I didn't need to be treated like a child.

 _We'll make it_

We would help each other until the day we were both happy again.

I buried my head in his chest and cried, falling asleep at last to his soft whispers and strokes of my hair.

 _We'll make it._

I believed him.

…

Waking up wrapped up together was incredible awkward. Leo couldn't stop giggling, Hazel looked scandalised, and Piper and Jason simply seemed confused, asking if their friends were now dating. Percy and I shared an embarrassed and grateful smile, before launching into stories about why they were cuddling and how _no Jason we are not together._

Thankfully, the storm had turned into nothing but a light rain by the morning. We signed out at reception, thanked Hedge for everything, and slumped out of school.

Rejuvenated with new energy, we danced and sang in the rain, euphoric now that we were free and could go home for the weekend. Eventually, as one, we stopped and looked around.

I saw faces that I had known for years, and faces that had only yesterday been given a name. I saw people who I had hated, who I had loved, who I had never spoken to.

Somehow, in this weird and improbable situation, we had bonded. It would feel weird to simply pass them in the corridor from now on.

"Bye, everyone." Jason smiled, always the gentleman.

We took the hint and all parted, heading home.

My dad answered the door. He looked tired, and I knew that he had probably been phoned about my detentions. Mum must have been furious.

But he gave me a little hug and ushered me inside, muttering about a nice hot cup of tea.

 **A little hint to the scary depths of this story at the start, some hope of some future Percabeth.**

 **Please review! Let me know who you want to see as the next POV!**

 **Follow and Favourite, it makes this all worth it.**

 **The detention is over, but something tells me this group of friends isn't going to part too quickly ;)**


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